North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has crossed the border into China on his signature green train to attend a military parade in China celebrating the formal surrender of Japan in the second world war, North Korean state media has reported.
Kim left Pyongyang for China on Monday and crossed into China early on Tuesday morning, North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported. He is expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday morning.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency described the bullet-proof, armoured train as a moving “fortress”, adding that it travels at only 60 kilometres (37 miles) per hour making the journey to Beijing about 20 hours long.
The slow but specialised form of transport has been used by the reclusive country’s leaders for decades.
Compared with North Korea’s ageing fleet of passenger aircraft, the bulletproof trains offer a safer and more comfortable space for a large entourage, security guards, food and amenities, and a place to discuss agendas ahead of meetings, experts say.
Kim does reportedly not share the fear of flying that forced his father, Kim Jong-il, to travel long distances exclusively by rail – he flew to his 2018 summit in Singapore with Donald Trump and to a meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, the same year in the Chinese city of Dalian.
But the train, which includes bedrooms and a meeting room fitted out with wall-mounted lighting and reddish-pink leather armchairs, appears to be Kim’s preferred mode of transport. It took him 4,500 km through China for his second summit with Trump, in Hanoi in 2019 – a journey that lasted two-and-a-half days.
Rodong Sinmun – North Korea’s official newspaper – on Tuesday showed pictures of Kim with his entourage, including foreign minister Choe Son Hui, standing outside and smiling from inside the train, which appeared to be similar to the bulletproof train he has used before.
State media photos also showed him with senior officials taking a cigarette break next to a green carriage emblazoned with gold-coloured crests and trim, and sitting in a wood-panelled office in front of a large gold crest and flanked by the North Korean flag.
On Kim’s desk sat a gold-embossed laptop computer, a bank of telephones, his signature box of cigarettes and bottles with blue or clear liquids. The windows were trimmed with blue-and-gold curtains.
Kim is among 26 world leaders joining the Chinese leader Xi Jinping to watch Wednesday’s massive military parade in Beijing. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be present.
While the event mark’s Kim’s first attendance of a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule, it would also be the first time Kim, Xi and Putin, all key challengers of the US, gather at the same venue. None of the leaders have confirmed a private trilateral meeting.
Pyongyang’s foreign policy priority has been Russia in recent years as it has been supplying troops and ammunition to support Russia’s war against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military assistance.
By contrast North Korea’s relations with China have reportedly turned sour in the recent past, but experts say Kim likely hopes to restore ties as China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner and aid benefactor.
With Reuters and Associated Press
